Improvement in piano-keys



WILLIAM A. REED.

Improvement in Piano Key s.

NO. 118389. Patented Aug. 22, 187].

UNITED STATES WILLIAM A. REED, OF DEEP RIVER, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN PIANO-KEYS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 118,389, dated August 22, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WVILLIAM A. REED, of Deep River, in the county of Middlesex and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in Piano-Keys; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing and the letters of refer ence marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and ex act description of the same, and which said drawing constitutes part of this specification, and represents, in

Figure l a top view, and in Fig. 2 a side view.

This invention relates to an improvement in covering the keys of pianos, organs, and similar musical instruments. In covering the keys of musical instruments with ivory it is necessary that the ivory be cut in two parts, A and B, joined together at a.

These parts have usually been attached to the wood portion of the key separately, the ends of the two butting together. In this construction the joint frequently opens and the parts are liable to become detached.

The object of my invention is to overcome this difliculty; and it consists in forming and securing a lapjoint in the ivory to be used on the key by forming a rabbet on one portion so as to form a shoulder, the other portion setting onto 'the said rabbet and against the shoulder, so that when the ivory is laid it gives a surface upon the two parts for securing them together and also in making this joint and securing it by attaching it to a veneer of wood or other material before it is attached to the key proper.

A and B are the two parts of veneering of the usual form. Instead of making a butt-joint I form a rabbet upon the one part B, as at a, Fig. 2, the shoulder being upon the upper side, and by preference chamfer the rabbet to a thin edge upon the under surface 5 then form the end of the other part, A, so as to butt against the shoulder and lap onto the rabbet. The meeting surfaces are glued together, thus preventing their separation; and I prefer to attach these two parts to a thin veneer of wood or other suitable material, C, and this, when properly prepared, I fix to the base or wood key, and form a joint which it is almost impossible to separate, and which, when nicely formed, is scarcely seen upon the surface.

I claim as my invention- The two parts A and B of the covering for keys of musical instruments, when united by a rabbet formed on one part, the other part constructed to set on the said rabbet, substantially as described, and with or without a veneer upon the under surface.

WILLIAM A. REED.

\Vitnesses Gno. A. READ, D. M. DAMON. 

